Mirrored Mosaic Coffee Table

Description: I bought an Ikea coffee table at a garage sale for $25. At the same time, I purchased some glass ‘seconds’ for $1/ pound. These were free-form, poured glass with small copper wire hangers embedded. I snipped off any external wire. There was also some broken mirror in the $1/pound bin so I bought that too. I ended up spending about $20 more on thick mirror from craigslist.

I gave the tabletop a light sand. Before starting a project with clear glass, you may want to paint the surface the same color as the mastic you will use. As it dries, it will shrink and the surface color below will be seen. I donât mind this cracked effect, but others might. Next, I laid out the poured glass pieces. I didn’t quite have enough to go all the way to the edge so I recessed them about an inch. I also included flattened glass balls from craft shops (for vases and such) where each blob met.

Once I liked the layout, I used premixed mastic (aka thinset mortar) to put them in place. You simply ‘butter’ the back of each piece and squish it flat to the table. Remove any that squeezes out before it hardens. Next I started with the mirror. I used a simple glass scorer from a craft store and a pair of glass cutters to break and cut the mirror. I held the pieces in a cardboard box as I cut so any little chips would be caught by the box. Safety glasses are recommended. One piece at a time, like building your own puzzle, and soon it is done.

This project took several days the way I did it, but if you have a regular sized surface and uniform tiles, it can go pretty fast. Also, I was able to pry up and re-position some pieces even after the mastic had dried. Just scrape it off and start again. Before grouting, clean as much visible mastic off the project as possible. A little warm water and a dishtowel work well.

Once everything is down and set it is time for grout. For this project, I used premixed, sanded grout but I wouldn’t recommend it. The premix has some kind of additive that makes it kind of tacky and clean up is much harder than with regular grout. Since the poured glass pieces didn’t go all the way to the edge, I used my finger to finish the outer edge of grout.

I decided to paint the outer edge of the table top a blue to match the glass, but left the legs the original color.
Ta-dah!

Table: $25
Material: $25
Tools: $17
TOTAL for “New Table”: $67 and a few weeks worth of evenings.

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Jules Yap "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

If you re-read the posting it might make sense. I used mastic to adhere the broken mirror, tumbled glass, glass beads and glass blobs to the table. Then, I used grout to fill in the spaces between the pieces. What you think is silicon, is actually glass. When it is dry, it is firm. I think the opal you refer to is glass. The edge of the table was painted with acrylic craft paint and then clear coated.

The image you posted shows GLASS glued to the table with mastic. I bought it from a place in Seattle that recycles glass. They poured melted glass on a flat surface and that is why it looks liquid. Each piece was between 8-20 cm long and 3-5 cm wide. Each one is unique. I was lucky to find them in a bin of “mistakes” for $1/ pound (about 450 grams)! Hope that helps answer your question. The colored dots are glass balls from a craft supply shop.

Um…the material is GROUT. It is the stuff that you buy at the hardware store that goes between tiles. By filling in the gaps between the broken glass, the sharp edges are greatly reduced. It might shrink a bit as it dries, so you may have to go over it the next day with some more grout.

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